Lot 79: The Bosphorus with Seraglio Point beyond

Fabius Brest (French, 1823-1900) The Bosphorus with Seraglio Point beyond signed 'Fabius Brest.' (lower left) oil on canvas 14 ¾ x 26 ½ in. (37.5 x 67.3 cm.)

37.5 x 67.3 cm.

Fabius Brest was a pupil of Émile-Charles-Joseph Loubon in Marseille and Constant Troyon in Paris, where he exhibited in the Salon from 1851 to 1896. He visited Constantinople in 1855, where the splendor of the Ottoman capital captured his imagination and infuenced the direction of his future work. He abandoned his landscape paintings of Piedmont and Provence, and dedicated his oeuvre to orientalist subjects. He became widely regarded as a great Orientalist painter. He remained in Turkey until 1859. In this time he would paint numerous views of daily life in and around Constantinople In the present lot his wide perspective has taken in the stretch of the Golden Horn towards Seraglio Point. Compositionally this has allowed him to highlight a number of significant landmarks, balancing the Topkapi Palace with the Hagia Sophia either side of the Golden Horn. In the background the Princes' Islands provide a sheltering backdrop.